Tell me, you who want to be under the law, do you not understand the law? ¹ 

if indeed you heard about him and were taught in him, just as the truth is in Jesus.

These are all destined to perish with use, founded as they are ¹  on human commands and teachings. ² 

Deacons must be husbands of one wife ¹  and good managers of their children and their own households.

And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works, ¹ 

But if you show prejudice, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as violators. ¹ 

They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world’s perspective and the world listens to them.

(These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth.) ¹ 

Then Moses called all the people of Israel together and said to them: ¹  “Listen, Israel, to the statutes and ordinances that I am about to deliver to you today; learn them and be careful to keep them!

Pay careful attention to all these things I am commanding you so that it may always go well with you and your children after you when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.

You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, ¹  for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him ²  with all your mind and being. ³ 

Ruth ¹  knelt before him with her forehead to the ground ²  and said to him, “Why are you so kind ³  and so attentive to me, ⁴  even though ⁵  I am a foreigner?” ⁶ 

But respond favorably to ¹  your servant’s prayer and his request for help, O Lord my God. Answer ²  the desperate prayer ³  your servant is presenting to you ⁴  today.

Now Gehazi went on ahead of them. He placed the staff on the child’s face, but there was no sound or response. When he came back to Elisha ¹  he told him, “The child did not wake up.”

He said: “Pay attention, all you people of Judah, ¹  residents of Jerusalem, and King Jehoshaphat! This is what the Lord says to you: ‘Don’t be afraid and don’t panic ²  because of this huge army! For the battle is not yours, but God’s.

You prolonged your kindness ¹  with them for many years, and you solemnly admonished them by your Spirit through your prophets. Still they paid no attention, ²  so you delivered them into the hands of the neighboring peoples. ³ 

Pay attention and come to me! Listen, so you can live! ¹  Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to ²  you, just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. ³ 

I have listened to them very carefully, ¹  but they do not speak honestly. None of them regrets the evil he has done. None of them says, “I have done wrong!” ²  All of them persist in their own wayward course ³  like a horse charging recklessly into battle.

While you were feeling secure I gave you warning. ¹  But you said, “I refuse to listen to you.” That is the way you have acted from your earliest history onward. ²  Indeed, you have never paid attention to me.

I will say, ¹  ‘My dear children of Israel, ²  keep in mind the road you took when you were carried off. ³  Mark off in your minds the landmarks. Make a mental note of telltale signs marking the way back. Return, my dear children of Israel. Return to these cities of yours.